On 6 May, Mrs Erna Hennicot-Schoepges, Minister for Culture, Higher Education and Research of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and Mr Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of ESA, sign the Agreement on Luxembourg’s accession to the ESA Convention.

Under this agreement, Luxembourg becomes a full Member State of ESA by December 2005 at the latest, after a transition period. Luxembourg has been participating in ESA’s ARTES telecommunications programme since September 2000 and formally applied to become an ESA Member State in December 2003.

“We warmly welcome Luxembourg to the European Space Agency,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, “Luxembourg has already acquired space experience through its involvement in Intelsat, Eutelsat and Eurocontrol and will reinforce the European dimension of ESA.”

The signing ceremony takes place at ESA Headquarters on Thursday 6 May at 11:45. Media representatives wishing to attend are kindly requested to complete the attached accreditation form and fax it back to the ESA Communication Department, Media Relations, on +33.1.5369.7690.